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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Maddon named AL Manager of the Year

Posted Nov 16, 2011 by Roger Mooney

Updated Nov 16, 2011 at 03:00 PM

ROGER MOONEY

ST. PETERSBURG Joe Maddon was named the American League manager of the year this afternoon, marking the second time in four seasons that the Rays manager took home the award.

Maddon guided the Rays to a 91-win season and the American League Wild Card when they made up a 9 ½ game deficit on the Red Sox during the final month of the season.

“Joe never gave up,” Rays pitcher James Shields said. “He never gave up on our team. Never.”

Maddon, who won the award in 2008 after taking the Rays to the World Series, led them to their second straight postseason appearance and third in the last four years.

Many believe Maddon did a better job of managing this past season than he did in 2008 when you consider the 2010 team, which won the AL East, was dismantled through free agency and trades.

The bullpen, the best in baseball in 2010, was rebuilt. His closer, Kyle Farnsworth, was a journeyman who spent his first season as a fulltime closer.

The offense was designed around designated hitter Manny Ramirez, who lasted six games before retiring rather than serve a 100-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s performance enhancing drug policy.

Evan Longoria, a big piece of the Rays offense, missed the first month of the season with an oblique injury. A foot injury hampered his production until the All-Star Break.

It was tough to coax runs out of the offense as the season progressed, and Maddon relied on his formula of mixing the lineup to matchup with the opposing pitcher.

The Rays began the year 0-6 and were 1-8 when the reached Boston for the second road series of the season.

Aside from a brief run to the top of the standings in May, the Rays found themselves in third place for most of the year. They were 10 games out of the Wild Card in August and only 9 ½ on Sept. 2.

But with Maddon professing his undying believe that his team could catch the Red Sox, the Rays did just that, clinching the Wild Card on the final night of the season with a thrilling come-from-behind 8-7, 12-inning win against the Yankees at Tropicana Field while the Red Sox choked away their season with a 4-3 loss in Baltimore.

“It was almost monotonous, ‘Here’s Joe again trying to be positive,’ but we fed off that energy, that positive attitude,” Shields said.